Oh dear. Miliband must be getting desperate. Later today, he's going to unveil a brand new education policy – his first ever, as far as I can tell. Under Labour, disgruntled parents will be able to call in a "hit squad" of troubleshooters to deal with the problems at their children's school, including sacking the head teacher. "Parents should not have to wait for somebody in Whitehall to intervene if they have serious concerns about how their school is doing whether it is a free school, academy or local authority school," he's going to say. "In all schools there should be a parent call-in."

Trouble is, it's not a new policy. "Miliband's speech will unveil a hitherto hidden public service reform agenda," claims the Guardian, but the exact same policy was in Labour's 2010 manifesto.

How the same policy was presented in Labour's 2010 manifesto

It's pitiful, really. Under this government, Michael Gove has overseen a complete overhaul of England's moribund state education system, introducing free schools, turbo-charging the academies programme, radically reforming the national curriculum, GCSEs, teacher training… you name it. And what's Labour's response? To recycle some tired old gimmick from its last manifesto.